Torque of the Devil
Torque of the Devil was a robot that competed in the first series of Robot Wars. It reached the Arena Semi-Final stage, where it lost to future Grand Finalist Bodyhammer. Following the announcement of Series 8 of Robot Wars, Lee Chenery stated on the FRA forum that he wanted to build a new robot for a future series, although no further information surfaced. Design Torque of the Devil was a large barrel-shaped robot painted red and featuring a sculpted fibreglass body which Jonathan Pearce regularly likened to a pig. It was powered by a 12V motor, and its weapons were a rotating spiked drill at the front and the first vertical flywheel in Robot Wars mounted on the rear, with four teeth bolted onto the flywheel. While boasting impressive weapons by Series 1 standards, Torque of the Devil suffered from slow speed, fragile armour and poor manoeuvrability which adversely affected its performances throughout its Heat. Robot History Series 1 Torque of the Devil started its Gauntlet run by reversing off the turntable and turning towards the right-hand route, where it was intercepted by Sergeant Bash. It slowly spun around as Sergeant Bash continued to attack, and appeared to stop moving as the House Robot nudged it towards a grille and fired flames at it, briefly getting himself stuck in the process. Torque of the Devil could not escape, however, and had reached a distance of only 4.92 metres. However, it still qualified for the Trial as Wharthog had covered exactly one metre less in its run, eliminating the latter. In the Labyrinth Trial, Torque of the Devil followed Full Metal Anorak down the right-hand route, but was too slow to take advantage of Full Metal Anorak ramming Sergeant Bash to get past the House Robot. Torque of the Devil eventually proceeded down the left-hand lane, passing Bodyhammer as it was attacked by Shunt and Sergeant Bash, but was not able to turn fast enough to follow REALI-T as it waited for Full Metal Anorak to ram Matilda away. With Psychosprout eliminated after rolling back to the start, Torque of the Devil still covered enough distance to finish third and progress to the Arena stage. In the Semi-Final of the heat, Torque of the Devil faced Bodyhammer, now decorated with a plaster at the back covering damage sustained in the Trial. It was rammed and pushed by the weaponless Bodyhammer within the opening moments, before Bodyhammer shoved it across the arena and onto the side bars, leaving Torque of the Devil stranded. Dead Metal, Matilda and Shunt proceeded to attack Torque of the Devil, with Shunt dragging it off the side bars using his axe. Torque of the Devil spun slowly in the CPZ before Bodyhammer rammed it onto the side bars again, with 'cease' being called after one last slam from Bodyhammer. After this, Torque of the Devil was eliminated from the First Wars. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 1 NOTE: Torque of the Devil's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included Series Record Headless torque.jpg|Torque of the Devil in the pits TOTDteam.jpg|The Torque of the Devil team TOTDPits.jpg|Torque of the Devil being maintained Trivia *Torque of the Devil was the first robot to have used "Torque" as a pun on "Talk". Team Torque would later use similar puns for their robots All Torque, Small Torque and Fighting Torque. *Torque of the Devil was the first Welsh robot to take part in any series of Robot Wars. *Team captain Adam Pengilly later joined Team Wharthog for Series 3 with Crusher. External Links *Adam Pengily's robot-building tips (archived) Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots from Wales Category:Robots with Drills Category:Robots with Vertical Flywheels Category:Robots that only progressed in the Gauntlet or Trials Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Robots with religious or mythological names Category:Robots which debuted in Series 1 Category:Robots from Pembrokeshire Category:Robots which lost their only battle Category:Robots which only fought in Series 1